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The
jobs form part of an investment by the U.S.-based company to
expand its warehouses and delivery network in Europe, its
research and development (R&D) capability, and build new
infrastructure to support its cloud-computing business.
Amazon said it created over 10,000 permanent jobs in Europe in
2015, bringing its European workforce to over 40,000.
"We are seeing stronger demand than ever from our customers all
across Europe, and we see lots more opportunity across Amazon's
businesses to invent and invest for the future," said Xavier
Garambois, vice president, Amazon EU retail.
Amazon enjoyed record Christmas trading in Europe. Since 2010,
Amazon has invested more than $16.3 billion on infrastructure
and operations in Europe, with more than $6.6 billion invested
in the UK.
It raised the pressure on Britain's established supermarkets in
November with the nationwide launch of a packaged groceries
service for Amazon Prime members.
The move was the ecommerce giant's most ambitious foray into
Britain's growing online grocery market but stopped short of
replicating its broader U.S. Amazon Fresh service, which offers
about 20,000 chilled, frozen and perishable products and items
from local shops.
However, a recent bid approach by Britain's second largest
supermarket chain Sainsbury's to Home Retail, the owner of
Argos, has been seen as a response to the competitive threat
posed by Amazon.
The new British jobs, which will take Amazon's UK workforce to
over 14,500 by the end of 2016, include posts at its new head
office in London, and at its three R&D centers, 10 warehouses
and 24 delivery stations. ($1 = 0.7000 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Keith Weir)
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